Parents of rising sixth graders at PS 114 in Rockaway Park
had planned a boycott after the school assigned an essay on
"The
Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian," a coming
of age story by Sherman Alexie about a 14-year-old who moves to
an affluent all white suburb after growing up on an Indian
reservation. The book won the 2007 National Book Award
for Young People's Literature.

"The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" is
controversial for its portrayal of masturbation, and includes
passages such as, "If there were a Professional Masturbators
League, I'd get drafted number one and make millions of
dollars."

One PS 114 parent told the Daily News, "It's about . . .
masturbation — which is not appropriate for my child to learn at
11 ... It was like 'Fifty Shades of Grey' for kids."

According to the Daily News, "The Absolutely True Diary of a
Part-Time Indian" was banned from a school district in Oregon in
2008, as well as one in Mississippi in 2010 and Washington in
2011.

After the 2008 ban in Oregon, Alexie defending the book, telling
an Oregon newspaper, "Everything in the book is what every kid in
that school is dealing with on a daily basis, whether it's
masturbation or racism or sexism or the complications of being
human ... To pretend that kids aren't dealing with this on
an hour-by-hour basis is a form of denial."